Abstract
The overarching aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of mental health difficulties and to examine the risk and resilience factors that shape mental health among children and youth aged 11-19 years in the Johannesburg West Education District. The prevalence component, the risk-and-resilience analysis, and the development of school-based support guidelines are therefore treated as interconnected parts of a single district-level inquiry rather than as separate studies.
Mental health difficulties among South African children and youth are widely documented; however, district-level evidence capable of informing targeted, school-based mental health support remains limited. This study sought to address this gap by determining the prevalence of mental health difficulties among learners aged 11–19 years in the Johannesburg West Education District (JWED), Gauteng, and examining the associated risk and resilience factors that shape learner well-being in this context.
Guided by a pragmatist paradigm, the study employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design implemented across three interrelated phases. Phase One comprised a cross-sectional survey of 1,108 learners from public primary and secondary schools, selected through a multi-stage systematic probability sampling strategy. Learners completed an integrated mental health profiling battery consisting of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the DSM-5 Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure (Child Version), the About Me Questionnaire (AMQ), a Climate Change Questionnaire, and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive, correlational, and multivariate techniques to address prevalence and association-based research questions.
Phase Two involved qualitative follow-up with an information-rich subsample of 30 learners. Data collection involved semi-structured individual interviews, focus group discussions, and collage-based visual elicitation activities (including drawings) to explore learners’ lived experiences and explain quantitative patterns. Qualitative data were thematically analysed. The study was underpinned by a biopsychosocial–resilience theoretical framework. Phase Three integrated quantitative and qualitative findings through systematic mixed methods integration to address the study’s research objectives and to inform the development of school-based support guidelines...